About to tour Australia on the release of their highly anticipated new record Toward the Low Sun, Warren Ellis of instrumental trio Dirty Three took time out of his busy schedule to chat to Aaron Curran, who has been kind enough to share his chat with the readers of the AU review!

Warren, people bring up the fact that the three of you all play with other bands and musicians as if it's an unusual thing, but you have always done this haven't you? Even in 1992 when you first started the Dirty Three. What do you remember about those early days in Melbourne?

It was a very creative time, a very exciting time. Jim and I were living out of each other's pockets, playing in loads of bands with people like Kim Salmon, Charlie Marshall, David McComb, The Blackeyed Susans. Playing a lot of pinball! I had Jim's drum kit in the car all the time, ready for whatever music came along, it was great, we were like Batman and Robin or something, it was so exciting. Then we formed Dirty Three with Mick, it came together quickly and had a distinctive sound from the word go.

Kim Salmon had arranged for Jim and me to join him on a recording that you couldn't find a copy of now if you tried (Hey Believer, 1993) and that also became the same studio where we taped the first Dirty Three album, a record that doesn't really exist anymore. This wonderful rehearsal room for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, we'd set up in the middle of this massive room and play, a beautiful room. From memory, with Kim we went in there for only half a day, for Dirty Three it was a day and a half. Fast and live, the greatest way to make a recording.

That brings us to (new album) Towards the Low Sun, which I believe was created more like those earlier records? Can you talk about that process a bit?

Well if not exactly the same process, definitely the approach. We'd been struggling with this album for a few reasons. Jim, Mick and I live thousands of miles apart. We have families and because we all play with other people, time is precious and it doesn't always stack up that we can get together easily. And when we had got together, nothing had come out of any new sessions that we'd done. Certainly I was a little spooked by that (lengthy pause). You know it felt like maybe this was the end of the group. Before this new record, it felt a bit like that.

What specifically was making you feel this way?

Particularly I felt I'd lost my connection with Jim, with the way we used to play together in the '90s, which was very open, much looser. Mick would anchor the whole thing while Jim and I would shoot around all over the place. That had disappeared, somewhere around 2000 it seemed to disappear in the way we played and didn't come back until 2010. There was a decade there where our playing had become a bit more mainstream, more predictable. Not the music itself but our way of playing.

We'd still been out playing live and enjoying that, I think every year we'd done dates at some point, somewhere, whether playing festivals or curating All Tomorrow's Parties, which lead to touring (performances of 1998's) Ocean Songs. But despite that, it wasn't entirely apparent how to move forward on recording new stuff.

What broke the drought?

The band played some shows in Japan a couple of years ago and we started talking about this situation we'd found ourselves in, about how we might find a way back in. Talking about how we play together is very unusual for us, we really don't do it. Well we'd never had to before anyway but this time we were struggling. We realised that what we had to do with the recordings was more like what we still did live, where we allowed a looser dialogue to develop between the instruments and risks to be taken.

I think back on the last album (Cinder, 2005) we'd taken our recording approach to a logical point, which was to force what we did into a smaller, defined frame, and to write more straight-up material. Concise songs, not epic flowing things. So while it made sense for us to have arrived there - it is the way most musicians make records - with us, we had to move away from that place.

So for (Towards the Low Sun) the musical ideas were very small, very open, hoping that this would encourage us to play our instruments together in a very different and much riskier way. More improvised, more instinctive, setting off down a road without knowing where we'd end up. Talking about this together and making ourselves more aware of our intentions seemed to work. Next time we got back in the studio, out came the new album.

Now you said that the music was more improvised this time but I get the sense that it’s still more structured and planned than most think when they hear that word. What does improvisation mean for The Dirty Three?

Well you're totally right, we've never been an improvisational band really. That word was a big stumbling block that we faced in the early days, it created prejudice. "Oh so you're a jazz band, I don't like that". Well actually we're not; our music has got more country and western, folk, and a hell of a lot more rock and roll than that. There're no fancy chords or structures and the sentiments are really straight up. That's why I started talking in the way I do when I introduce the songs, just to ease people in a bit. Otherwise they started to look a little skittish, as if they were trapped, politely watching Herbie Hancock or something (laughs). It took people a little while to work out what the Dirty Three was all about. We knew where our ideas were coming from and it wasn't only from a jazz tradition.

If you have heard our stuff, you should be able to come along to our shows and hum a few bars of songs that you know. There're certainly unexpected elements and there's always room for improvisation but if I say that we're going to play 'Everything's Fucked' then that's what we play and if you know the song, you'll immediately recognise it.

I think you can say similar about Towards the Low Sun as well, that while it holds together as a cohesive album, with a particular mood, it is actually formed of very distinctive songs that are full of melody and character.

Absolutely, that's always been our goal. Never on any of our albums has there been a completely free-form moment. Our improvisations become tuned, sculpted, and they get recalled in a structured way... playing live just does that to you. There is always a set of chords, a riff, or a melody we come back to, so it’s not coming from a completely abstract place.

But are those elements shared before the band records together? What's the actual process? Do you get into a room and create the music live from scratch or do you each compose elements that are shared before you play?

No, we never share things like that; we're not a band that lets the others know what we're working on by sending shit through the internet or whatever. That just doesn't work for us. We have to be in the same room, together, messing around with ideas. The three of us have always written everything together, and even if someone comes in with a bit they've already worked out, it's completely changed by what we do as a group. A song wouldn't be the same if it wasn't us three playing it. If one of us left the Dirty Three, that's the end of the band.

And unlike the last album, where you had guests like Chan Marshall (Cat Power), this time it's only the three of you playing on Towards the Low Sun?

Yeah it's just us, playing live mostly. The circumstances I described before meant that it was important to keep this one just to the three of us. The original plan was to keep it completely live with no additional instruments or overdubs but that wasn't possible. When we got in and started playing, the act of creation conjured new ideas so there are some overdubs; I play piano and a few other instruments. But I think you can hear that the core of this record is just the three of us.

I think that's true, even on the more ornate tracks like 'Ashen Snow'. What can you tell me about that song? For me it became a focal point of the album and I found myself hitting the repeat button a lot.

I'm glad, thanks, that's good to hear. It was an idea that started simply. It's a very simple tune, a delicate melody. But that's one of the songs where we did stack a few more instruments on to make it grow, to give it a bit more weight. Like the flute-y strains of the mellotron. So I guess it's a rare early Black Sabbath kind of moment for us (laughs).

Speaking of other bands, if you were putting together a list of works that have inspired and influenced the Dirty Three, to show kids the possibilities of what music can be, what would you put on it?

Oh man, it'd be such a long list. Jerry Lee Lewis, Live at the Star Club. The Saints' (I'm) Stranded. The Stooges' Raw Power. The Velvet Underground and White Light White Heat. Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited, but also Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, that's one that doesn't get much credit. The Modern Lovers, Jonathan Richman's first album. AC/DC's Powerage. Suicide's first album. Laughing Clowns. Howlin' Wolf's The Rocking Chair album. Alice Coltrane. John Coltrane's Kulu Se Mama or even A Love Supreme. Stravinsky. The Ramones. Bela Bartok. Johnny Thunders. The Birthday Party, of course.

But if I had to pick just one, I've got to say that if I hadn't heard the Velvet Underground at a young age, then my life would be very different. I think Mick and Jim would agree with that.

I can completely understand that, I've been listening to the live tapes that Robert Quine made of the Velvet Underground and that's been a revelation, they've helped me rediscover the band again.

They're unbelievable those tapes, unbelievable. Though I was talking with Jonathan Richman about them and he won't listen to the Quine recordings. He's a purist, it's like he can't listen to the Velvets unless they're played through the original amplifiers or something (laughs) so there's one person who doesn't agree with us. But I fuckin' love them!

Thanks very much for your time Warren, best of luck with the new record and the tour.

Thanks Aaron, it's been a pleasure talking with you, bye for now.

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Toward the Low Sun is in stores on Friday. Tour dates below!

Friday 9 March - Astor Theatre, Perth
Presented by Feel and X-Press Magazine. Tickets from www.bocsticketing.com.au, feelpresents.oztix.com.au, phone 9484 1133 or in person at all Bocs outlets.

Saturday 10 March - WOMADelaide, Adelaide - just announced
Tickets on sale from www.womadelaide.com.au

Monday 12 March - The Glasshouse, Port Macquarie - just announced
Presented by Feel. Tickets from www.glasshouse.org.au

Wednesday 14 March - Powerstation, Auckland
Presented by Feel. Tickets from www.ticketmaster.co.nz, www.powerstation.net.nz, phone 09 970 9700 or in person at all Ticketmaster outlets.

Friday 16 March - The Palace, Melbourne
Presented by Feel and Inpress Magazine. Tickets from www.ticketmaster.com.au, feelpresents.oztix.com.au, phone 136 100 or in person at all Ticketmaster outlets.

Saturday 17 March - One Perfect Day Festival, Gippsland
Tickets from lyrebirdartscouncil.oztix.com.au, phone 1300 762 545 or in person at all Oztix outlets.

Sunday 18 March - Theatre Royal, Castlemaine - SOLD OUT
Presented by Feel and Inpress Magazine. Tickets from www.theatreroyal.info, phone (03) 5472 1196 or in person at the venue.

Wednesday 21 March - Sydney Opera House Concert Hall, Sydney
Presented by Feel. Tickets fromwww.sydneyoperahouse.com or phone 9250 7777.

Thursday 22 March - The Tivoli, Brisbane
Presented by Feel and Time Off Magazine. Tickets from www.ticketek.com.au, feelpresents.oztix.com.au, phone 132 849 or in person at all Ticketek outlets.

Friday 23 March - Starcourt Theatre, Lismore - just announced
Presented by Feel and Time Off Magazine. Tickets from www.starcourttheatre.com.au or phone 02 6622 5005